Page 111 of Night Fae

In their own chambers, Knox and Adrian sat close together on a window seat, shoulders touching as they gazed at the distorted night sky. A notebook lay open in Adrian's lap. He'd been trying to journal his thoughts to get them all out, but it wasn't working to calm him down.

"It feels wrong," he said, "sitting here comfortably while reality falls apart outside."

Knox turned to him. "There's no point in rushing into battle when you're not fully prepared. Didn't you call me foolish for doing so in the past?"

Adrian couldn't deny that. He sighed. "I get that. But I don't like it."

"Part of being prepared is being rested." Knox reached over, taking the notebook from him and closing it.

"I can't stop thinking about what's coming. If we fail?—"

"We won't."

"How can you be so sure?"

Knox took Adrian's hand, running his thumb over the knuckles. "Because I refuse to accept any other outcome."

The simple conviction in his voice made Adrian smile despite himself. "Just like that?"

"Just like that."

Adrian shifted to lean into Knox. The incubus was his anchor in this strange world—this reality where fiction and truth had blended together in ways he still struggled to comprehend.

"Remember when you crashed through my skylight?" he asked, a hint of nostalgia in his voice.

Knox's lips quirked. "Not my most dignified entrance."

"I thought I was hallucinating. Or dreaming." Adrian's fingers traced the line of Knox's jaw, the curve of his ear, the sharp angle of his horn. "Sometimes I still wonder if I am."

"If this is a dream," Knox said, capturing Adrian's hand and pressing a kiss to his palm, "then I never want to wake."

"How romantic of you."

"I have my moments."

Adrian laughed softly, then grew serious once more. "What happens after? If we succeed? Do we go back to Earth, or stay here?"

Knox was quiet for a moment, considering. "Where do you want to be?"

"With you." The answer came without hesitation. "Everything else is negotiable."

Something fierce and protective flashed in Knox's eyes. He pulled Adrian closer, one hand cradling the back of his head as their lips met. The kiss deepened, Adrian melting against him, hands finding purchase on broad shoulders. For a moment, the world outside ceased to exist—there was only this, only them.

When they separated, Adrian felt the familiar heat in his cheeks, the way his pulse sped up. Knox's eyes took on a golden glow.

"We should sleep," Adrian said, though his actions contradicted his words as he leaned in for another kiss.

Knox smiled against his lips. "Later."

Zev stood by the window, watching the aurora writhe across the night sky. Streaks of violet and emerald twisted together, then shattered into fragments before reforming. Occasional flashes of other landscapes appeared and disappeared within the lights—glimpses of Earth, perhaps, or other realms beyond.

The sight chilled him in a way few things could.

"Anything out there?" Malik asked from the bed, where he sat propped against the headboard, a book of shadow path lore open in his lap.

"Nothing good." Zev turned away from the window. "The sky is tearing apart above us."

"We'll stop that in the morning," Malik said, closing his book. "At the Barrier Temple."